The Calinar:

In 2175, near the Vermillion star cluster, the Poseidon carrier group encountered a fleet of civilian Calinar transports traversing the Perseus-Sagitarius void between the arms of the galaxy. Rear Admiral Toryek, stationed aboard the Poseidon was well versed in first-contact protocols and followed them to the letter, but he had received no intelligence informing him of alien use of that area.

Using standard hails, the Alliance craft attempted peaceful communication with the alien ships, but there was no response. History records that a strange buildup of plasma energy was detected in the alien ships. Thought to be a weapon of some kind, the Alliance destroyers were ordered to fire plasma volleys over the hulls of the alien ships as a deterrent. This only created more of this alien build up. Suddenly, the alien vessels, in a flash, broke into an encircling pattern surrounding the Alliance ships. Sensor readings indicated that the Calinar ships were creating an energy barrier to entrap the human vessels. With no communication of peace to the contrary, Toryek ordered the launching of all fighters and main battery assault toward the destruction of all alien ships. In moments all Calinar souls were lost.

Minutes later, one of the Vermillion stars went nova – which caused a chain reaction in the other stars in the cluster. A level 15 energy surge was recorded (never before imagined), and the resulting EM pulse shut down all Alliance hardware aboard all ships of the Poseidon group. With the eminent shock wave of 5 suns’ explosions impacting the powerless hulls of the Alliance ships only a few hours hence, it took the ingenuity of the crews to restore power aboard the Poseidon carrier itself. All persons boarded the carrier and were successfully able to hyper-dim away to safety. All other Alliance ships were turned to atoms.

In the aftermath it became clear that the aliens were, indeed, the animal Calinar race which the Alliance had only heard whispers of. It was also clear that the transport ships’ “entrapment energy field” which Admiral Toryek maintained would have “destroyed the entire battle group” was actually a super-tech field which the Calinar were creating to protect the battle group from the impending doom of 5 simultaneous novas. The answer to the question of the Calinar response to such wanton and needless loss of life came in the form of the destruction of outlying colony Beta-Kilo 3 near the newly-named Vermillion Supernova. 457 human souls were vaporized from an unknown weapon. The war with the Calinar had begun. The execution of Toryek and the Captain of the Poseidon along with the deaths of the colonists were only the beginning of a war which would define the lines and guile of the Alliance from an enemy who was relentless, innumerable, and somehow precognitive.

Nothing is known about the Calinar themselves. It is said that from the wreckages of their ships they are an animal bi-ped race roughly the same size as humans. However, it is also known that they are radioactive in nature and no human should ever be exposed to them for fear of severe radiation poisoning.

In 12 years there has never been a battle with planet-fall, and the Calinar specifically stay away from foot-soldier battles choosing to instead focus their assaults strictly to spaceborn affairs. Early on, this afforded the Alliance significant advantages as the taking of Calinar planets always has the same outcome: Alliance capital ships surprise a Calinar planetary installation. Once Alliance ships break through orbital defenses, all Calinar troops abandon their posts and transport away while Alliance marines take and hold the station. However, hours later, overwhelming Calinar spaceborne reinforcements arrive and with reckless abandon destroy the station – sometimes eradicating all live on the surface of a planet. Quickly seeing a pattern in Calinar tactics, Alliance destroyers began waiting in hyper-dim for the Calinar “clean up” effort. The Calinar would arrive, and be jumped by an entire wing of Alliance destroyers. The Calinar were turned into space junk in minutes. However, recent advancements in Calinar capital ships’ mobility and tactics have neutralized Alliance advantages therein.

Calinar origins are also a mystery. Although several black-ops sorties have penetrated into the depths of space in order to find their home world, no definitive place of origin has been found. Worlds which have otherwise thought to be “Calinar Prime” are just as quickly destroyed by the Calinar themselves once Alliance troops land.

There is currently no dialogue between the leadership of the Alliance and the Calinar. There is no known common language. Although on the whole the Calinar technology is less advanced than Alliance hardware, they appear to have an endless supply of war equipment and personnel. Without further knowledge of the Calinar, it appears doubtful that the Alliance, already losing the war, will be able to remain solvent for much longer.